2019 Toronto Raptors

Toronto bet everything on one season. The front office traded DeMar DeRozan, a homegrown All-Star, to San Antonio for Kawhi Leonard, who had played nine games the year before and could leave in free agency. The Raptors went 58-24 and rested him through stretches of the schedule, a practice the team called load management.

Leonard delivered in the playoffs. His Game 7 jumper against Philadelphia, a corner shot that rattled four times before dropping, sent Toronto to the conference finals. There the Raptors came back from 0-2 down to beat Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee.

Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, and the midseason addition of Marc Gasol gave Toronto size and shooting around Leonard. Fred VanVleet caught fire from deep in the Finals after his newborn son arrived during the run.

Golden State was breaking down by then. Kevin Durant ruptured his Achilles in Game 5, and Klay Thompson tore his ACL in Game 6. Toronto closed it out on the road, the first championship for a team based outside the United States. Leonard signed with the Clippers a month later.

The starting five was Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Marc Gasol. Nick Nurse coached the group with Fred VanVleet as the primary bench scorer.

The full roster ran deeper than the headline names. Role players who mattered included Serge Ibaka (backup center); Norman Powell (bench scorer); OG Anunoby (missed the playoffs after an appendectomy).

The 2019 title came in the modern era of load management, threes, and switch-heavy defense. The Toronto Raptors still had to win four series, usually against teams built to contend rather than tank.

The Toronto Raptors have only this one title in the record covered on Ring Holders Club. That makes the 2019 run the whole of the franchise's championship story in our archive.

Looking back, the 2018-19 Toronto Raptors won the only NBA title in franchise history, beating the two-time champion Warriors in six games. Kawhi Leonard, acquired in a one-year gamble of a trade for DeMar DeRozan, won Finals MVP in his single season in Toronto. He also hit the most famous shot in team history, a corner buzzer-beater that bounced on the rim four times before falling against Philadelphia.

For the full roster beyond the featured starters, see the table on this page. For other Toronto Raptors titles, use the franchise hub linked below.